Why Watch? Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” director Garrett DeHart has blended computer-rendered imagery with grotesquerie in order to paint a gorgeous portrait in blood. Set after the Civil War, it stars Larry Holden (Memento, Batman Begins) as a veteran awaiting the gallows while weaving his way through his own insanity and a reality that feels even more unhinged.
The visuals are reminiscent of the computer graphics of 1999. Painted animation, that partially rotoscoped feeling that made people look real one nanosecond, then obviously fake the next. It’s a perfect match for the tone of the fever dream being told here, and something few people are choosing to do stylistically. Behind all of it is a grand sense of agony and dread created by a dark palette, uneasy imagery and a one-eyed preacher imbuing the raw violence with cries about blood setting us free. Every moment has a thin layer of dirt over it, building an excellent atmosphere that Poe probably would have been proud of.
What will it cost? Only 20 minutes.